Over the years, I’ve gotten emails from people who have said things like, “You inspired me to quit my job and pursue my real passion.” I want everyone on the planet to experience that same feeling — that feeling of knowing, “I matter, I am helping, I am making a difference,” whether you’re connecting with an audience of 1 person or 10,000.

The briefest safari through the overgrown pathways of the fearsome Amazon indicates that there is an entire genus of the journal family that is marketed towards journaling partners—of both the platonic and romantic varieties.

According to one of my favorite children’s books, “The ballpoint pen has been the single biggest factor in the decline of Western Civilization. It makes the written word cheap, fast, and totally without character.”